Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the Holocaust
- The Cambridge History Of The Holocaust
- The Cambridge History of the Holocaust
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume IV
- Abbreviations
- Additional material
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Introduction to Volume IV
- Part I History
- Part II Geography
- Part III Culture and Ideas
- Part IV Culture and Fields
- 18 Holocaust Commemoration and Memorials
- 19 Holocaust Museums
- 20 The Holocaust and the Medical Professions
- 21 Holocaust Literature
- 22 The Holocaust and the Visual Arts: Perplexity, Meanings
- 23 The Holocaust and Film
- 24 The Future of the Holocaust – Timely Reflections
- Index
- References
21 - Holocaust Literature
from Part IV - Culture and Fields
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2025
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the Holocaust
- The Cambridge History Of The Holocaust
- The Cambridge History of the Holocaust
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume IV
- Abbreviations
- Additional material
- General Editor’s Introduction
- Introduction to Volume IV
- Part I History
- Part II Geography
- Part III Culture and Ideas
- Part IV Culture and Fields
- 18 Holocaust Commemoration and Memorials
- 19 Holocaust Museums
- 20 The Holocaust and the Medical Professions
- 21 Holocaust Literature
- 22 The Holocaust and the Visual Arts: Perplexity, Meanings
- 23 The Holocaust and Film
- 24 The Future of the Holocaust – Timely Reflections
- Index
- References
Summary
Holocaust literature started even before the mass killings themselves, with Jewish poets, novelists, and essayists reacting to the rise of Nazism and the war, and it continues to the present day. At first, many representative authors were survivors, but, with the passage of time, new generations of writers came to engage with the reality of the Holocaust, either as descendants of survivors themselves, or simply as human beings wrestling with one of humanity’s greatest calamities. Traversing poetry, diaries, memoirs, and novels, this chapter tracks the evolution of Holocaust literature, its expansion into a global vernacular, and the ways in which diverse authors have sought to deploy language to process mass slaughter.
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- The Cambridge History of the Holocaust , pp. 490 - 509Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
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